Options For All announced that in partnership with Joey Travolta’s film company, Inclusion Films, the team is preparing to direct Travolta’s first feature film in 12 years, “Carol of the Bells.” The film is intended to disrupt mistaken myths about adults with unique developmental abilities and characteristics.

The Rotary Club of San Diego Foundation, in cooperation with San Diego Rotary announced an award of $50,000 in grants to two arts organization. A Reason To Survive, or ARTS and David’s Harp Foundation will both receive $25,000 to support their programs.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services announced that The New Children’s Museum and the Barona Cultural Center were among 30 finalists nationwide for its 2019 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

The Leichtag Foundation welcomed two new board members, Angelica Berrie and Charlene Seidle, to its board of directors. Berrie is president of The Russell Berrie Foundation, a former co-chair of the Jewish Funders Network and one of North America’s most prominent Jewish philanthropists.

SDC, a San Diego-based cannabis consumer product goods company, has been acquired for $27 million by Next Green Wave, headquartered in Canada. According to a news release, the company has been rebranded as WeareSDC and, as part of the transaction all members of the SDC team will lead the Next Green Wave extraction and manufacturing unit.

Even when it comes to stationary bikes, the San Diego scene is not standing still. We check in on some newcomers around the county including a great place to work up a hunger and a great place to feed that need.

The 353-room San Diego Marriott Mission Valley has been acquired by Miami, Florida-based Driftwood Acquisitions and Development for $85.7 million. Driftwood, a privately held investment firm, plans to develop a second hotel on the same site to open in 2021, according to a news release.

Small Concept Store Took Steps To Find a Fit in Community

Standard Target stores are usually about 130,000 square feet in size. But, when the company’s executives saw a relatively smaller building in North Park, formerly known as Wang’s North Park Restaurant, they knew a reduced Target would be the right fit for the urban neighborhood.

TECH: Who Will Be Big Winner Remains to Be Seen

In a highly-anticipated final ruling March 26, the U.S. International Trade Commission struck down a patent case Qualcomm Inc. had brought against Apple Inc. The full commission ruled that Qualcomm’s patent for a battery-saving technology was invalid, ending a key case for the San Diego-based chipmaker in its extended legal battle with Apple Inc.

Wells Fargo announced that the company donated nearly $3.8 million through 292 grants to local nonprofits, schools and community organizations in 2018 to help the communities and people of San Diego and Imperial counties.

The U.S. Navy said March 22 that it exercised an option worth $245 million to buy more signal jammers known as JCREW. Northrop Grumman Corp. builds the electronics, which U.S. troops use to foil roadside bombs.

SD 500 recap: Brick Nelson is Northrop Grumman’s senior executive for the San Diego region, representing all business activities and the primary company interface with peer industry partners and business leaders in the region.

BANKING: The Cryptocurrency Policy Is Drawing Customers

San Diego-based Silvergate Bank brought on new customers at the end of 2018, but saw its digital deposits decrease quarter-over-quarter. The crypto-friendly bank filed for an IPO last November, with a price target of $50 million.

The Department of Veterans Affairs signed a 20-year, $148 million lease on an approximately 100,000-square-foot building in Kearny Mesa, which it will convert into a VA outpatient clinic — billed as the only clinic of its kind in Southern California.

SD 500 recap Cindy Gompper-Graves has been president and CEO of the South County Economic Development Council since 2003, after leading economic development efforts for San Diego County as the manager of its Trade and Business Development Office.

Monday, March 25

AEROSPACE: Kratos Buying 80.1% of Co. With Option to Buy the Rest

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions Inc. continues to develop its unmanned aircraft business, as shown by its recent acquisition of a company that makes small jet engines in February, and the first flight of a drone in March.

SECURITY: Multiple Patents Are Part of Security Solution

Maintaining network security is hard to do when you face a barrage of unnecessary alerts. That’s what MixMode CEO John Keister found out when he began asking prospective clients about their biggest pain points in security.

San Diego-based Axos Bank said earlier this month that it received federal regulatory approval to take on the deposits of MWABank, which amount to $173 million. Axos Financial Inc. (NYSE: AX) originally announced its plan to take on MWABank in December.

Perry Dealy’s company has led major local developments, and he also served as the top supervisor on projects by Douglas Manchester including the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego and Grand Del Mar Resort.

ScaleMatrix, a San Diego-based company that offers high-density data centers, acquired Arizona-based Instant Data Centers on March 19. Instant Data Centers builds micro data centers for edge computing, which involves processing data as close as possible to the end user. The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal.

A distinctive feature of Coronado’s skyline for more than 40 years, the Coronado Shores high-rise condominium towers, adjacent to the iconic Hotel del Coronado, occupy some of California’s most prized beachfront settings.

The San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl generated a huge economic impact in the county in 2018, according to a report prepared by San Diego State University Center for Hospitality and Tourism Research.

BUILDING: Developers Applaud End of Regulation

Tim Foley, a San Diego developer who specializes in building infill apartment projects in the city’s urban neighborhoods, said he’ll likely be able to build more apartments for less money thanks to a new law that eases parking requirements.

Pharmaceutical leader Cam Garner and his wife Wanda, a cancer workshop facilitator and philanthropic fundraiser, are longtime supporters of medical research and treatment efforts at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health. Recently, the couple gave $2 million to establish the Garner Family Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Blood and Marrow Transplant to support excellence in research, teaching and clinical care at UC San Diego Health in the field of blood cancers in general, and blood and marrow transplant (BMT) in particular.

The Visual and Performing Arts Foundation, or VAPA, hosted its Inaugural Spotlight fundraising event recently at the University Club Atop Symphony Towers. One hundred arts supporters attended the event to raise funds to enhance the quality and access to arts education for San Diego Unified School District students.

Local nonprofit Fresh Start Surgical Gifts hosted its 27th Annual Celebrity Golf Classic recently at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club. The event raised $215,000, surpassing its fundraising goal of $200,000, and was hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro, best known for his role in “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

According to a press release, SDC has been rebranded as WeareSDC and, as part of the transaction, all members of the SDC team will immediately become the head of the Next Green Wave extraction and manufacturing unit.

The U.S. Navy has named Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar as commander, Navy Region Southwest. In her role she will oversee shore bases in California and five Western states. Bolivar will relieve Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey in ceremonies March 22 at Naval Base Coronado.

The ranking for the best and worst metro cities for first-time home buyers list by Bankrate, which looked at the 50 largest metro areas, was based on affordability, culture, housing market tightness, job market and safety, among other measures.

PROPERTY: Key Updates, Amenities Are Alternatives to New Building

A 37-year-old Scripps Ranch industrial building has been gutted, renovated and put back on the block in what some real estate brokers said is a market that’s exceptionally tight but among the most desirable in the region for industrial space.

SD 500 recap: Magda Marquet is one of the architects of the local life science sector. She and her husband, Francois Ferre, co-founded Althea Technologies, which they built into the region’s largest contract manufacturer before selling it in 2014.

BUILDING: Tariffs, Demand for Materials Likely to Boost Prices

A year ago, construction costs were rising so fast with fear of tariffs so shaking the industry that some contractors started stockpiling materials.
That’s over, with many San Diego County contractors predicting a slow but steady rise in costs through the end of 2019.

ENERGY: They Would Take Energy Buying Role From SDG&E

Big changes may be in store for the way San Diego County businesses and residents get their electrical power, as local governments consider taking over the role of buying and selling electricity from the region’s investor-owned utility, San Diego Gas & Electric.

Sempra LNG, a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy, announced on March 18 that it named Justin Bird president, and Lisa Glatch chief operating officer. The two will develop Sempra’s liquefied natural gas export business.

According to a press release, UK’s Talon, an out-of-home media company, recently acquired the advertising and experiential agency and will change all of Grandesign’s traditional offices to the Talon name.

Stone Brewing Co. entered the Brewers Association annual list of the top 50 producing craft brewing companies in the U.s. at No. 9, Karl Strauss Brewing Co. came in at No. 40 and Modern Times Beer took the No. 45 spot.

Cohu Inc., a maker of equipment for semiconductor factories, reported record annual net sales of $451.8 million in 2018 following the acquisition of a similar equipment maker. The Poway company’s net loss for the year was $32.1 million.

Qualcomm Inc.’s got a lot of legal balls in the air. And, an arm of the U.S. government may help settle one of the key cases, in which a defeat could be a big blow to the San Diego chipmaker’s patent licensing business.

In partnership with Frinj Coffee, San Diego-based Bird Rock Coffee Roasters held a tasting of the first California-grown coffee in San Diego earlier this month. The varietal, a certified organic Cuicateco which scored a 92 from Coffee Review, was available in limited supply, according to a news release, and coffee roasters have plans to provide more beans in coming months.

The USS Midway Foundation announced that it awarded $10,000 to the San Diego Center for Children. The donation helps further implement the center’s Empowered Families program to better respond to the needs of families with a child suffering from a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder.

San Diego Workforce Partnership won a $1.2 million philanthropic funding contest by national nonprofit Strada Education Network. The funding increases access and diversity in tech through income share agreements, or ISAs, a student loan alternative by which a student agrees to pay a small proportion of their income for a set period of time.

Friday, March 15

Rancho Bernardo-based gaming peripheral maker Turtle Beach Corp. said March 14 that it agreed to acquire Roccat, a German maker of PC gaming accessories. Separately the business announced it almost doubled its revenue for the year.

Cubic Corp. said March 14 that it acquired electronics maker Nuvotronics of Durham, North Carolina for $64 million cash. Nuvotronics produces microfabricated radio frequency products, primarily for the military satellite and electronic warfare markets. There are commercial applications for the products as well.

Do you bet on the jockey or the horse?
That question kicked off a Feb. 27 investor panel at Biocom’s 9th Annual Global Life Science Partnering Conference. The query gets at whether investors prioritize a biotech’s science or the management team.

Tuesday, March 12

Athena CEO Holly Smithson is continuing to raise the organization’s profile beyond San Diego County. Late last year Athena announced a collaboration with the United Nations Global Compact to promote gender equality.

FOOD: Needy Get Meals; Co. Working on Eco Friendly Vodka

Call it what you will: “Hedonistic Sustainability,” the “Circular Economy” — San Diego businesses and nonprofits are panning for gold in the area’s food waste stream as well as innovating new solutions to old problems such as hunger and protecting the environment.

Zuza and Golden State Graphics, two commercial printers based in North County, announced in March that the two companies merged effective Jan. 1. The two owners of Zuza and the single owner of Golden State each have one-third interests in the new company, called Zuza LLC.

As CEO for ResMed since 2013, Mick Farrell has led the company into a new data-driven, diagnostic era, establishing the company as a world leader in digital health with more than 8 million patients in its connected health ecosystem and more than 2.5 billion nights of medical sleep apnea and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease data.

The varietal, a certified organic Cuicateco which scored a 92 from Coffee Review earlier this month, was available in limited supply, according to a press release, with plans to provide more beans in coming months.

TECH: Fintech Leaves NYC, Sees Good Hiring Climate in S.D.

Kyriba, a fast-growing software company that helps finance executives manage their companies’ assets, is scouting out new headquarters in the UTC area. The company announced in February that it would shift its HQ from New York City’s financial district back to San Diego, where it has a 120-person office just off of Towne Center Drive.

RF Industries Ltd. said March 11 that it agreed to acquire the business and assets of C Enterprises LP of Vista. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the week.

The majority of shares will come from the Shirley C. Brostmeyer Revocable Trust and Joseph D. Brostmeyer Revocable Trust. The Brostmeyers are engineers and cofounders of Florida Turbine Technologies, which Kratos bought for a combination of cash and stock.

Sunday, March 10

GAMING: Sector Moves Its Focus to Resort-Style Amenities

In the last few years, casinos in and around San Diego County have collectively invested north of $1 billion to revamp and/or expand their properties. According to tribal representatives and experts in the gaming industry, this is all in an effort to evolve from mono-dimensional gaming facilities to multi-dimensional, full-service resort models in order to better serve already-established guests and potentially gain new ones.

Though AbacusNext has been around since 1983, the San Diego-based software company has seen startup-like growth in the last five years. When CEO Alessandra Lezama joined the family-owned company in 2013, AbacusNext was a $5 million company with 29 employees building case management software for legal clients.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego received more than 1,490 pounds of fresh chicken from Jimbo’s…Naturally! and Smart Chicken to share with food insecure families, older adults and military personnel in San Diego County.

Just in Time for Foster Youth in partnership with the Clinton Foundation and The San Diego Foundation, hosted Chelsea Clinton recently, during one of JIT’s mentoring program sessions, “Coach Approach,” where Clinton spoke with JIT and transitioning foster youth.

Veterinary Specialty Hospital’s seventh annual Holiday Pet Food Drive donated 8,310 pounds of pet food to the San Diego Food Bank, which translated into more than 11,000 meals to hungry companion animals across San Diego County. More than 170 pounds plus cash to purchase more was collected.

Thursday, March 7

With a new, $2 million Department of Energy grant in hand, Achates Power plans to create a highly efficient opposed-piston engine for hybrid vehicles. The University of Michigan and Nissan are partners in the project to build a single-cylinder opposed-piston (OP) engine.

Debra Rosen came to the North San Diego Business Chamber in 2009. Since then, the chamber has received a five-star accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the only organization to receive this distinction in San Diego County, and one of 10 accredited chambers in California.

Amid a flurry of announcements at Mobile World Congress for connected cars, laptops and factories, Qualcomm Inc. unveiled a new platform specifically designed for robotics. In a first for the company, Qualcomm (NYSE: QCOM) built a set of hardware and software tools to help manufacturers develop everything from consumer robots to industrial robots, dubbed the Qualcomm Robotics RB3 Platform.

The U.S. Navy reported on Feb. 28 that its BQM-177A target drone built by Kratos Defense and Security Solutions Inc. was ready for war games. In Navy lingo, it achieved initial operational capability.Separately on March 5, Kratos (Nasdaq: KTOS) said it recently received $11.2 million in multiple unmanned systems contract awards.

Large Companies Find Flexible Office Space Gives Them a More Nimble Presence to Test Markets

Bobby Brannigan’s commute is shorter than most. Every morning, he takes an electric scooter to his company’s offices in Downtown Works, a colorful, multistory coworking space in the heart of San Diego.

The Thomas C. Ackerman Foundation has awarded $15,000 to the San Diego Center for Children which will be used to support the center’s Empowered Families program to better respond to the needs of families with a child suffering from mental, emotional, or behavioral challenges.

San Diego-based April Bisharat, founder of Love 15 Tennis and a former professional tennis player, hosted a fundraising “tennis fest and clinic” to benefit her tennis student 15-year-old Daniella Benitez’s, Build A Miracle team house. The event raised $2,000 toward Benitez’s goal.

Nothing is visible from the street but an iron gate that opens to a long, curving drive that leads to the far side of the property. A welcoming, stone-clad, clean-lined porte-cochère frames the entrance.

San Diego-based Guild Mortgage announced that it raised more than $300,000 for three local charities. The company recently donated $100,000 each to the Monarch School, Urban Corps of San Diego County and Home Start. The donation was on behalf of the Guild Giving Foundation, which hosted its second annual charity golf tournament and dinner social last fall at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. The event raised nearly $500,000 in its first two years.

Reality Changers, a San Diego-based nonprofit that provides youth from disadvantaged backgrounds with the academic support, financial assistance, and leadership training to become college graduates, announced that after 10 years of setting up and taking down shared space for its programs, it moved its entire operation to the fourth floor of its current building. It went from a 3,000-square-foot-office to nearly 15,000 square feet fully dedicated to its programs and operations.

A new startup accelerator in San Diego welcomed its first cohort of startups in February. Seven companies from across the U.S. were picked for Nex Cubed’s first Digital Healthcare Accelerator, which accepts biotech and health care companies with a software component.